Delhi: Gang member held with 2kg Pakistan-origin heroin worth ₹12 crore

A 31-year-old key member of the Rohit Godara-Mahender Delana gang was arrested, and two kilograms of alleged Pakistani-origin heroin concealed in a car were recovered, police said.

The operation was a joint effort by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell and the Vadodara City crime branch of the Gujarat Police.

“The recovery of the consignment of narcotic substance that allegedly originated from Pakistan and was smuggled into India, and the arrest of a gang member who was wanted by the Vadodara City crime branch in a ₹10-crore high-profile extortion case, have exposed a major narco-extortion module operated by Mahender Delana, a key associate of gangster Rohit Godara,” said deputy commissioner of police (Special Cell) Narra Chaitanya.

Police estimated the value of the recovered contraband at around ₹12 crore in the international market.

DCP Chaitanya said the operation began after the Vadodara crime branch shared intelligence with the Special Cell regarding a ₹10-crore extortion threat, in which the first instalment was scheduled to be handed over in Delhi. The information was developed, and a joint operation was launched accordingly.

On September 12, around 5.30pm, the team intercepted a person named Kuldeep Swami in north Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area. “Swami’s interrogation revealed that a consignment of narcotic substances was concealed in his vehicle parked at Jai Vihar in Delhi’s Najafgarh. The team raided the premises at Jai Vihar, found the car, and recovered four packets containing nearly two kilograms of heroin of Pakistani origin, hidden inside a specially fabricated secret cavity near the spare-tyre area in the boot space,” said Chaitanya.

A case under Sections 21 and 25 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered at the Special Cell police station. Further investigation established that Swami was part of a syndicate that operated a multi-layered, dual-purpose network handling both extortion money collection and drug trafficking, Special Cell officers said.

Explaining the syndicate’s modus operandi, the DCP said the gang would use photographs of currency notes to authenticate identities prior to cash or drug handovers.

“Swami acted as a primary operative and courier, receiving extortion proceeds ranging between ₹5 lakh and ₹50 lakh per transaction across Delhi-NCR and Rajasthan. He was paid ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 per assignment,” he said.

About the narcotics supply route, Chaitanya said that on September 5, on the instructions of Mahender Delana, Swami travelled to Amritsar in Punjab to receive a drug consignment. The next day, he met two unidentified suppliers and received the two-kg heroin consignment, concealed it in the secret cavity of the car, and drove back to Delhi, the DCP said.

A resident of Rajasthan’s Churu district, Swami previously ran an agricultural commodity trading business, which incurred financial losses exceeding ₹50 lakh in 2022, according to officers. To clear his debts, he contacted Mahender Delana via Instagram, who subsequently lured him into the narco-extortion network on the promise of clearing his financial liabilities, the Special Cell said.

According to DCP Chaitanya, Delana is an associate of fugitive gangster Rohit Godara, who is based abroad and allegedly carries out gang-related activities such as murder and firing for extortion in north India, especially Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Delana is a wanted criminal with previous involvement in at least five cases across three states. Godara is a former associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang; he later formed his own gang with another fugitive gangster, Goldy Brar, who also operates from abroad. Godara and Delana are operating their gang from abroad, the DCP said.

“The accused is in custody. Further investigation is ongoing to identify other operatives, trace hawala routes and arrest Delana and other associates,” he added.